A mill village drawn from four townships
Garrettsville grew up around a gristmill. Colonel John Garrett III bought land here in 1803 and moved his family in the next year. His settlers built a mill that was set to open in January 1806, the same month Garrett died. The Cleveland-Pittsburgh Road, built in 1806 near the mill, brought trade through the settlement, and it was incorporated as a village in 1864.
The village was formed from parts of four townships: Hiram, Nelson, Freedom and Windham. Most of it came out of southwestern Nelson Township. That’s why two neighbors on the same street can show different townships on their tax records. If you’ve inherited a village house, check the parcel number and legal description on the deed before you call a title company. Getting them right early keeps the estate paperwork from stalling.
The poet Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville on July 21, 1899.
Pre-1940 houses are common here
The village has one of the older housing stocks in Portage County. In the Census ACS, about 41% of Garrettsville homes were built in 1939 or earlier, against a county median build year of 1977. The village median is 1957.
Old houses sell fine, but they come with predictable questions:
- Electrical: original wiring or undersized service. See selling a house with old wiring.
- Paint: older homes may have lead paint, which brings a federal disclosure duty. Our lead paint disclosure guide explains it.
- Structure: stone or block foundations, sagging porches, and water in the basement.
A retail buyer’s lender and inspector will flag those. We buy as-is, so the repairs come off the price in writing instead of turning into a renegotiation.
At the walkthrough, Bob Donahue looks hardest at the parts of an old house that cost the most: the roof, the basement walls, the electrical panel and the heating system. He has a construction and property management background, so he can usually tell you what’s a real problem and what isn’t. On a house at the village median value of about $191,000, Portage County’s $4 per $1,000 conveyance fee comes to roughly $764.
Downtown after the 2014 fire
On March 22, 2014, a fire downtown burned about a city block and 13 businesses to the ground.
If you own a building downtown or a house near it, location there counts in your favor, but so do the costs of an old structure. We look at both at the walkthrough.
James A. Garfield schools and the surrounding townships
Garrettsville children attend the James A. Garfield Local School District, formed in 1951 from the Freedom Township and Garrettsville districts. It serves the village, all of Freedom and Nelson townships, and the eastern part of Hiram Township. James A. Garfield High School is on State Route 88.
That district line ties the village to its rural neighbors. If you’re selling a farmhouse outside town instead, see our pages for Nelson and Hiram.
How far Garrettsville is from our office
Garrettsville is in the northeast corner of Portage County, and our office is in Akron, so it’s a longer drive than Kent or Ravenna. Bob Donahue still comes out in person, and the walkthrough takes 15 to 20 minutes. We close through a local title company on the date you choose. If the house is in an estate, the probate side runs through the court in Ravenna, covered on our Portage County page. To start, tell us about the Garrettsville house.